Our spleen is the unsung hero of our immune system. Situated on the left side of our body and above our stomach, our spleen acts as both a storage reservoir and a filtration system for our blood stream, helping to remove harmful bacteria and viruses before they can do us damage.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) a key mechanism of supporting our spleen is avoiding cooling foods and beverages and consuming warming ones. Added to this is the belief that sweetness from whole foods is also supportive. Sugary processed foods absolutely do not benefit us in any way!
The 2 key ingredients in this Butternut Squash soup support our spleen with warmth and sweetness. Warmth comes not only from the temperature of the soup but also by the addition of ginger. Ginger is a warming spice. Butternut squash is a complex carbohydrate on the sweeter spectrum of taste as you will experience with this soup.
Fall is the perfect time to enjoy this recipe and give a little love to your spleen!
(A side note for this recipe. I love the taste of ginger and it comes shining through with the added amount of 1 Tablespoon. If you are more towards the shy end of your ginger flavouring reduce the amount by half.)
Butternut Squash Soup
6 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut Squash cut lengthwise and seeds removed
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 leeks (Diced)
- 3 garlic cloves (chopped)
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger (about 3/4 of an inch)
- 4 cups organic vegetable broth
- 1 pinch of Chili flakes
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.
- Bake squash until tender, approximately 40 minutes. Let cool and remove skin.
- Put olive oil in to your pot and add leeks, garlic and salt. Sautee until tender.
- Add squash, ginger and chili flakes to pot along with vegetable broth. Simmer for 5 minutes
- Puree soup with hand held blender or in a stand up blender. Return to heat and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Serve when done.
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